Is the lateness concept acceptable to you?

We live in Malaysia, the country that invented the concept of "rubber time". Tell a Malaysian that a meeting / appointment / wedding will begin at xx:xx time and they will invariably show up after the stipulated time.

Today, I was supposed to meet up with a group of people (note that I use the term "group of people", they comprise of my colleagues, acquaintances and strangers) for an outdoors expedition. We were supposed to meet at 8.00am in Rawang town, a time and place set by our so-called "guide". Since I stay far away from Rawang, I make the extra effort to be on time and arrive at the appointed meeting point at 7.54am. (Yes, I am *that* precise.) Look around, no one's here yet. I call XY to see where they are. And this is what XY tells me :

XY : "Yeah, we're here already. In fact, I can see your car! We're finding a place to park."
Me : "Okay, see you in a bit then."

Okay, fine. I call VW to see where they are. This is what VW says to me :

VW : "Aiyo, why are you so punctual one? I'm just leaving my place, on the highway now. Should arrive in 15 minutes time. Why don't you take breakfast first while waiting?"
Me : "I've already taken my breakfast. Just waiting for you and the others to arrive."

Okay, it's still fine. I consider whether or not to call Z, but surmise that they should be coming anytime soon. How wrong was I!

20 minutes pass. It's now 8.15am. No sign of either XY's car or VW's car. I get concerned, so I call XY again. Maybe they're parked somewhere else where I can't see them. Or maybe they've gone off to have breakfast. The phone rings for nearly 6 rings before XY picks up. (Note: XY was not driving, someone else was. XY was a passenger in the car.)

Me : "XY, where are you guys? Did you get lost parking?"
XY : "Actually we're still on the way la. We should be reaching soon."

Wtf? (Sorry, I don't normally swear in real-life or on my blog but this was beyond me.) Why can't you tell me that you were on the way earlier? Why do you have to lie? I HATE LIARS. Period. Doesn't matter if it's big lie or little lie. A lie is a lie is a lie. Don't tell me it was a joke and try to laugh it off. (Which, by the way, XY did not say. Neither did he apologize. It was just a matter-of-fact thing to him, to tell an untruth without blinking.)

At this point of time, there are supposed to be 12 people for the outing, and none of them have arrived yet.

The time now is 8.19am. Finally a car I recognize. It's Z's car. Z comes over to say hi.

Z : "Eh, what happened to the rest? Where are they?"
Me : "Well, as you can see, they're all not here yet. XY and VW are on their way. I don't know about VW's friends."
Z : "Haiyoh, and I thought I was going to be late. Must really scold them..."
Me : *looks at Z* "It's definitely not 8.00am now. Then can I scold you first?"

Z is a bit embarassed now.

Z : "Actually hor, I was on time, but just that on the way here, on the highway, I needed to pangsai* so I had to stop!" *pangsai = sh*t

By this time, my reaction is like, whatever. Evidently these people have no sense of responsibility. Some minutes pass. The time now is 8.26am. XY's car arrives. The 3 of them inside are all laughing through the windows AT me as they park next to my car. Not a word of "Sorry we're late" or anything else. Bah. Right now, if it weren't for the outing that I so looked forward to, I couldn't give a damn about all of them. They could all go to perdition right there and I wouldn't blink an eye.

Me : "It's about time you guys got here. What happened to finding a parking space, huh?"
XY's Driver : "It's XY's idea la. He thought it would be funny to pull your leg."
Me : "Actually, I don't find it funny. To me, that's a lie."
XY's Driver : *laughs* "But he does it so well and convincingly!"
Me : "In fact, I hate liars. So please don't ever lie to me again." *with the firmest tone and grim face I can muster, leaving the unspoken consequences hanging in the air between us*
XY's Driver : *quickly adds* "Oh yes, I hate liars too!"

So the XY's Driver hates liars lying to her but it's okay for them to lie to someone else, right? Humbug. All this while, XY doesn't even come over to say a word to me but walks around the parking lot aimlessly.

XY's Passenger : "Hey, I just spoke to VW on the phone. They're lost, somewhere near... *names the landmark*"

I know where that landmark is, so I use my handphone to call VW's handphone. It rings to the end; VW does not pick up. XY's Passenger tries with her handphone, and VW immediately picks up the call. Wtf? Oh okay, I get it. You feel guilty that you're late so you won't answer my call. But you'll answer someone else's call, not knowing that that person is actually sitting next to me. Coward.

Finally, at 8.45am, VW's car arrives. Like XY, VW doesn't come anywhere within 4 ft of me (probably because I radiate disapproval like the sun's heat rays) until it's time to give out directions for the next leg of the journey. And then, this is what VW says:

VW : "Oh, we were delayed because of the rain!" (Like hello? What rain are you referring to? The barely there light drizzle?)
Me : "Mmmm."
VW : "Anyway, we shouldn't let this spoil the rest of the trip. We should enjoy it!"
Me : "Huh." *stifling the urge to roll my eyes*

It's not like they all don't know that the meeting time is 8.00am. We were all reminding each other about it the day before. In person and via emails. But yet, look at the times that they arrived! And all the *wonderful* excuses they made for themselves.

The best part? We sit around in the parking lot for another ten odd minutes waiting for the so-called "guide". Remember, the one who said we should meet at 8.00am? Yes, that one. Who only arrived close to 8.55am. A full 55 minutes late! Talk about extreme lateness. If it were a restaurant that was so slow in serving your meal, I'm sure you would have kicked up a hue and cry already by then. Because you expect more and because you're paying for it. Well, I expect more because I've more than paid for it with my time!

By the time we finally left on the next leg of our journey, it was 9.02am. And I had been waiting for over an hour because I was punctual. Really (@)Q(*#$&%*($&*(@#($!!!!!!

The delay incident was not the only thing that happened during the outing. There were other little incidents, words flippantly said and actions that spoke louder than words. All in all, today solidified the feelings I had in this post here and made up my mind. You know what? From today onwards, I'll never want to voluntarily organize anything else for this bunch of people. Association with them - as minimal as possible. (If not for the fact that right now they are the only group of people I can do activities with, I wouldn't even bother trying in the first place.) I don't think it's too much to ask for if I expect at least a modicum of reciprocation and effort on your part? And it is a matter of character that shows in how you approach these trivial matters.

I'm not saying I didn't enjoy myself today. I did, immensely. The outing itself was wonderful. Just that, the people I went with, are not.

p.s. There'll be two camps of people on this post. Those who think like me and those who think like XY, VW and the rest. I only ask one thing if you're going to comment. Please, be truthful about your two cents worth of opinion. Thank you.